Virat Kohli scored his maiden test hundred but still it wasn’t enough asIndiawas bowled out for 272 at the Adelaide Oval. Australia decided not to enforce the follow on and reached 50 for 3 in their second innings thereby extending their overall lead by 382. Virat Kohli was the last man to be dismissed for 116 as he chased late quick runs forIndia. The hero with the ball for Australia was Peter Siddle who finished with 5 for 49.
The day started off with India losing three wickets, that of Sachin, Gambhir and Laxman before lunch. The wait for Sachin’s 100th international century is on for the Indian fans since 2011 World Cup as he was dismissed by Siddle in the first hour. There was lot of speculation about the catch by Ricky Pointing at second slip who took it few inches from the ground, but the replays showed that he got his fingers under the ball to claim a clean catch.
Twenty four year old Nathan Lyon, who was a grounds man at the very same Adelaide Oval a year back, bowled a tight line around off the stump and was rewarded with the wicket of VVS Laxman edging a catch to the wicket-keeper Brad Haddin. Laxman managed to score only 18 runs off 43 deliveries. India was off to lunch with the score reading 122 for 5 with the young guns of Indian cricket Kohli and Wridhiman Saha in the midst.
Kohli and Saha managed to play in an aggressive manner against both spinners as well as medium pacers. They put on a 100 run partnership thereby showing the more senior batsmen in their team that it was still a good wicket to bat on. Saha misjudged a delivery that came back slightly and thereby losing his off stump just at the stroke of tea. From then on it was only Kohli’s hundred that was eagerly awaited as he brought up his maiden hundred through a lofted drive through the covers.
Australia after electing to bat again were in a spot of bother losing the top 3 wickets for just 50 runs as Shaun Marsh’s horror run continued with another low score. But they already have an overall lead that will challenge India. Both the not out batsmen, Ponting and Clarke are in top form and will look to score some quick runs tomorrow and bat India out of this test match. Can India bat out of their skins to save this test match? We will know in another couple of days or rather one.
